Some Other Time
Lara Downes, Piano
Zuill Bailey, Cello
Steinway & Sons 30025 (2014)
Steinway pianist Lara Downes has done it again. We
are still enjoying her 2013 piano solo release Exiles’
Cafe every time we play through our classical music
playlist. Now our playlist is being lengthened once
more with the duo Steinway recording Some Other
Time, on which Lara is joined by cellist Zuill Bailey.
The program is comprised of works of four American
composers, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Lukas
Foss and Aaron Copland:
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
1 “Dream With Me” from Peter Pan 3:01
2 “Some Other Time” from On The Town 2:17
3 “In Our Time” 3:02
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Cello Sonata, Op. 6
4 I. Allegro ma non troppo 8:41
5 II. Adagio-Presto 4:32
6 III. Allegro appassionata 6:32
7 Sure on this Shining Night, Op. 13, no 3 2:31
Lukas Foss (1922-2009)
8 For Lenny “Variations on New York, New York” 2:12
9 Capriccio for Cello and Piano 6:17
Bernstein
10 Five Anniversaries for Piano: no 2, for Lukas Foss
1:46
1:46
Clarinet Sonata
11 I. Grazioso 4:26
12 II. Andantino, Vivace e leggiero 7:08
13 Seven Anniversaries for Piano: no 1, for Aaron
Copland 1:35
Copland 1:35
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
14 Old American Songs, Set 1: “Simple Gifts” 2:43
14 Old American Songs, Set 1: “Simple Gifts” 2:43
15 Old American Songs, Set 1: “Long Time Ago”
2:26
2:26
Lara Downes begins the liner notes for Some Other
Time: American Classics for Cello and Piano:
Time: American Classics for Cello and Piano:
“Some Other Time,” from Leonard Bernstein’s 1944
musical On the Town, arrives at the close of the
musical On the Town, arrives at the close of the
show, as three friends, sailors on a 24-hour shore
leave in New York City, head back to their ship - off
to war and an uncertain future.
***
Zuill and I chose this lovely song as the title track
of our first recording together because it represents
three central qualities that inspired this project:
friendship, adventure and nostalgia.
***
For Zuill and me, this music also holds a nostalgia
for another time in American music - a golden
generation before our time, an era when concert
music in America had a real and present place in the
culture and in daily life, when American families
listened to Live from the Met broadcasts on their
kitchen radios and gathered around their TV sets to
watch Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts at
Carnegie Hall. It’s not the world we grew up in, but
it’s a world we dearly want to see...
[End of quote]
[End of quote]
Unlike Lara Downes and Zuill Bailey, this reviewer
experienced broadcasts of Leonard Bernstein’s Young
People’s Concerts at an impressionable age. They
provided a thrilling introduction to classical music,
laying the foundation for a lifetime of musical
fulfillment. Lara Downes has an uncommon ability to
communicate the beauty and meaning of her music to
the listener in both words and sound. It is what we
have come to expect of her recordings.
Disclosure: A review copy of this recording was
provided by the record label.
Comment by email:
Comment by email:
Thank you! So much. I'm so glad you like the record. Your words are so kind, and I so appreciate your support, always. By
the way, I was at the Sphinx Virtuosi gala the other night at Carnegie
Hall. It was really a beautiful, beautiful event. The musicians were
amazing and there was so much love and pride in the room. Best, L Lara Downes www.laradownes.com
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